


i found you in pieces

by howshouldibegin



Series: big teeth small kiss [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, mild descriptions of injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 18:17:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11064501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howshouldibegin/pseuds/howshouldibegin
Summary: Shiro had been vanished for about two weeks, all told.  His memories of that time were fuzzy, but honestly, just add them to the giant pile of fuzzy memories at this point.The reunion after Shiro had stumbled out of the Black Lion, was joyous and filled with a  few tears, and plenty of people talking over each other, trying to catch up all at once.  Noisy, messy chatter about how they searched for Shiro, how things had been so quiet lately since the defeat of Zarkon, the state of their alliances with Kolivan and with the Olkari, and other bits of information each person thought was important for Shiro to know right now. It took a bit, but Shiro eventually managed to speak over everyone to ask, “Lance, what happened to your arm?





	i found you in pieces

**Author's Note:**

> Fills the Healing slot of Uliro Week 2017
> 
> All titles for this series come from [btsk by MS MR](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx7afw6CmYc)
> 
> Set post-S02.

Shiro had been vanished for about two weeks, all told. His memories of that time were fuzzy, but honestly, just add them to the giant pile of fuzzy memories at this point.

The reunion after Shiro had stumbled out of the Black Lion, was joyous and filled with a few tears, and plenty of people talking over each other, trying to catch up all at once. Noisy, messy chatter about how they searched for Shiro, how things had been so quiet lately since the defeat of Zarkon, the state of their alliances with Kolivan and with the Olkari, and other bits of information each person thought was important for Shiro to know right now. It took a bit, but Shiro eventually managed to speak over everyone to ask, “Lance, what happened to your arm?”

The Blue Paladin's left arm was in a sling, and Shiro could see the bulky bandages swaddling his shoulder under his clothes. Half the group shared awkward glances while the other half looked at anything but another person.

Allura gently touched his elbow, getting his attention. “It's quite a story. You may want to sit for it.”

Shiro was just bewildered. “Okay,” he said slowly. “But, why not use a healing pod? Were they damaged in the battle with Zarkon?”

“Oh, no, they weren't damaged,” Allura assured him. “But we needed one to operate at maximum efficiency for a time, so Lance agreed to wait.”

“I'm fine. My shoulder's healing okay on its own,” Lance said, waving off Shiro's concerned frown.

“What happened?” Shiro demanded.

“Sit, please Shiro.”

Shiro sat, and the others arrayed themselves around him, Keith and Pidge claiming the seats nearest to him. 

Together, everyone offered bits of the story. 

Four days previous, Hunk had caught a faint signal, and after an hour or so of tinkering with Pidge, managed to decipher that it was a distress beacon. Together they managed to narrow down the broad signal to the Wozblay system. There they found a disabled ship, small and badly damaged, parts of its hull crumpled like tissue paper, though scans showed it was miraculously still airtight. Lance and Keith were the ones to inspect it, quick, focussed, and surprisingly in sync with each other, especially once they found it to be a Galra ship. Keith's Galra heritage allowed them to make progress fairly quickly, and with bayards at the ready, they cleared the ship from the airlock to the tiny bridge. Lance crouched, aiming his bayard at the door, and Keith held his at the ready, body shielded by the frame as Lance nodded at him to open the doors.

Lance had been crouched to avoid any head or torso shots, but apparently the pilot of the ship had been aiming for knee shots, and with Lance in a lower position, he gained the shoulder wound he had hoped to avoid.

The shot found a seam in the armour, and Lance went down with an arc of blood and a shouted curse, while Keith leapt into the doorway, shield out to protect them both from any further shots, but he froze in place as the pilot rasped out, “Humans? Paladins?”

Standing protectively over Lance, Keith warily confirmed, scanning the room for the pilot. The bridge was small, only enough room for maybe three people, with a single control console in the centre. He was shocked when the blaster skidded across the floor from behind the console, followed by a familiar blade.

“Marmora?” Keith blurted out incredulously.

“I am unarmed,” came the weak reply.

Keith exchanged a look with Lance, and Lance jerked his chin toward the room, then painfully brought his blaster up to stare down the sight to cover Keith. His hand left stark red streaks on his bayard.

So Keith entered the room, sticking closely to the wall until he made visual contact with their attacker. He recognized him, despite the severe and extensive injuries, and immediately called for medical assistance for both Lance and the pilot.

“Who the hell did you find on that ship?” Shiro asked.

“Shiro,” Pidge said softly. “We found Ulaz.”

Shiro couldn't process the words; they made no sense. Silence held everyone's tongues still for the longest ten seconds of his life as Pidge's words echoed in his head. 

He vaulted the back of the lounge. He bolted. He ignored everyone's shouts of surprise. He had to see. He had to know. He couldn't do this twice. He couldn't grieve twice. 

He ran, straight to the healing pod room. He caught himself on the door with his hands to keep himself from slamming into it, as it didn't open fast enough for the pace he was going. 

And in a central healing pod, looking far worse than Shiro had ever seen him before, yet so much better, so miraculously better, was Ulaz. 

For a long moment, Shiro couldn't move, couldn't even tear his eyes away from Ulaz, could barely breathe. Then he took one shaking step forward, and another, and continued forward on legs that felt like they would barely carry him anywhere, until he was close finally enough to touch the surface of the healing pod, drinking in the sight of familiar features, and features no longer so familiar.

He didn't know how long he stared, but he finally managed to look away when Coran laid a hand on his shoulder, startling him.

“Easy, lad,” Coran said gently. “He's had a rough go of it, your Ulaz. We weren't sure he would make it at first. He was . . . pretty badly injured when we found him.”

“How?” Shiro croaked. “H-how is he still alive? We saw him die, imploding that ro-beast so we could get away. How is he here?” His head spun, trying to understand everything. It'd been a hectic time, leading up to that final battle with Zarkon, but it had been at least two or three weeks from Ulaz's sacrifice to Shiro disappearance, then another two weeks until he returned. That was at least a month, so the fact that Ulaz survived with such injuries for that long was astounding in itself.

“Hunk found a sort of stasis chamber in the wreckage of Ulaz's ship. We think that he triggered the space pocket while inside the ro-beast, then entered into stasis. The xanthorium chunks that fuelled the explosion must have ejected Ulaz's ship halfway across the quadrant, until it limped to a stop just past the Wozblay system. Pidge managed to get from the stasis chamber's remaining codes that it held Ulaz as long as it could, but it started destabilizing about five days ago and released him, where he probably set up the distress signal. So really, it was only about a day that Ulaz managed with his injuries. I don't think he would have lasted much longer if we hadn't found him when we did.”

Shiro let his breath shudder out and he leaned his forehead against the healing pod. “I . . . is he . . . um, will he be alright?”

“Eventually,” Coran assured him. “The pod's almost done with what it can do, but he'll still be in pretty rough shape. It had a lot to do. Punctured lung, it's a good thing Galra have three anyway; broken ribs of course; broken shoulder, that'll give him some troubles, Galra shoulder joints are tricky things; several internal injuries. He's lost that eye, and most of the ear, obviously, the pods can only do so much. Can't heal what's gone. A few other fractured bones here and there. He's lucky he's young, he'll bounce back quicker than a fully grown Galra.”

“Young?” Shiro asked, focussing on the only part he could. So much pain and so many scars and so little Shiro could do.

“Well, 'young' is relative, but yes, Ulaz is only just entering his second decafeeb, that is to say, in human terms, ah, twenty years? Yes, he is twenty years old, give or take a few of your 'months'. Most Galra don't start getting darker until their third or fourth decafeeb, hence why his colouring is still so pale.”

“He has hair,” Shiro pointed out stupidly. He was zeroing in on all the wrong things. He could barely focus on anything at all beyond the crushing relief in his chest.

“Yes, well, I don't think the Galra quite figured out the knack of Altean cryo pods. He still aged while in stasis. Healed a little, too, but not much.”

Coran was being endlessly patient with Shiro, willing to answer anything he hyperfocussed on, whether it was relevant or not. Hair, for God's sake. What did Ulaz's hair have to do with anything? Not a damn thing, is what. Shiro was abruptly glad that it was Coran alone and not the entire group there right now. It was too much, and Shiro already felt the jagged edge of a breakdown coming. Coran would understand. The others wouldn't, not in the way Shiro needed them to understand right now. 

“Ulaz will be fine,” Coran reiterated. “I promise you, he will be fine.”

“When will he be released from the pod?” Shiro asked. He was sure Coran had said earlier, but could barely understand the 'he will be fine' part of all that Coran had told him, let alone anything else.

“Soon. Tomorrow at some point. Why don't you go get cleaned up, get some rest, and be at your best when he's done?”

“I- . . . no, I can't go.”

“Yes, you can. I'll stay with him until you get back.”

Shiro said nothing, refused to budge from his position. How could he leave as soon as he found Ulaz again? And how could he face any of the others right now? 

“Shiro,” Coran said, his voice losing some of the gentle tone had had had while assuring Shiro. “Nothing will happen while you take care of yourself too. I'll be here. Go.”

Shiro went, operating on autopilot, silently vowing to be back as soon as humanly possible.

Showers for Shiro were normally quick endeavors, but he couldn't make himself stop shaking, couldn't stop the tears of relief from blending with the hot water, could barely catch his breath. Once he finally managed to get out of the shower, he changed into his regular clothing, grabbed a few supplies, and made his way back to the healing pod room. Coran had half-heartedly scowled at Shiro when he came back, as Shiro had barely been gone an hour, but gave it up as a lost cause when Shiro insisted that he'd rest right there, waving a blanket at Coran as proof of his intentions. Begrudgingly, Coran left Shiro alone with Ulaz, assuring him that the others would leave him be for the next day or so. 

Coran was stopped by Shiro's voice calling his name as he reached the doors, and turned back to face the Black Paladin. Shiro was already wrapped in the blanket and curled up next to Ulaz's pod, and he refused to meet Coran's eyes, but he hoarsly whispered out a heartfelt, “Thank you.” Coran smiled, and left Shiro to his vigil.

Shiro slept fitfully, more than the usual nightmares working to ruin his sleep. More than once, he had to get up and check the condition of Ulaz's healing pod, pulling up the status monitors so he could watch Ulaz's heartbeat, and get his own to settle. Even so, he was asleep, and startled awake when the pod's shield lifted, in the early hours of a new day. He jumped up in time to catch Ulaz when he stumbled out, and felt the Galra tense in his arms. 

“It's okay,” Shiro assured him quickly. “You're safe, Ulaz, you're on the Castle of Lions, and you're safe.”

Almost instantly Shiro felt Ulaz's muscles relax, and Shiro took a moment to pull at the blanket still twisted around his hips so he could swing it around Ulaz's shoulders. 

“Shiro,” Ulaz murmured, turning to face Shiro so he could stare with his one good eye. “You're alright.”

“Hi,” Shiro said, smiling. “Thank you for saving us. Please don't do anything like that ever again.”

Ulaz chuckled weakly. “I have no intention of doing such again.”

“C'mon, lets get you laying down. You were injured pr-pretty badly,” Shiro said, wrapping an arm around Ulaz's waist. The two of them made their way to Shiro's room in comfortable silence, just basking in each others' presence without the threat of danger looming overhead. It was a novel sensation for them both, and not one either of them would take for granted. 

Shiro helped Ulaz into his bed, tugging blankets out of the way, then over Ulaz's broad frame, and absently noted that the beds on this level were obviously not made with Galra height in mind, as Ulaz had to curl up on his side to tuck himself in properly without hitting walls. Hopefully there were some quarters that were made for Galra on the castle.

“I'll leave you to rest,” Shiro said quietly, intending to find Coran and see about different quarters, but was stopped by a gentle hand grasping his wrist, claws just barely dragging on his skin. Shiro pulled up short, and turned to look at Ulaz, who was looking back at Shiro intently. 

“Stay. Please. We should speak.”

Shiro smiled softly. “Of course.” He sat at the edge of the bed, and rested a hand on Ulaz's left cheek, just below the scarred eye. “I'm not going anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I snuck in my headcanon that Ulaz is a young bab. I base this on a couple things. #1: Kolivan, talking about Ulaz in S02E08, says, "He had a penchant for ignoring orders and following his impulses." Does that not sound like every person of authority complaining about reckless teenagers? #2: We see very few Galra with white hair: Ulaz, Kolivan, and Lotor. Granted, we don't know _anyone's_ canon age (except maybe Coran's?), but regardless, there is no reason that Galra genetics regarding aging follow human's. Many species on Earth start out as a different colour as babies and change to darker, or lighter, as they get older. So yeah, Ulaz is in his pretty early 20s to me, Kolivan maybe late 20s to early 30s, and Lotor is whatever. Reason #3: It just plain amuses me. :D
> 
> Lance's shouted curse was “fuck”, which Shiro taught Ulaz the use of earlier. I like how Lance minces his swears on the show, probably because of a veritable gang of younger siblings and niblings, but Ulaz wouldn't have recognized any of those as a particularly human word. Not like fuck, which doesn't translate automatically very well, given its absurdly flexible usage.


End file.
